Why do we overeat? Of course, if we didn't suffer negative consequences from overeating, we wouldn't need to concern ourselves about it. The first step to prevent overeating, is to know why we do it.

Do any of these sound familiar? Are we:

Eating in response to emotions? This includes positive emotions, negative emotions and those in-between (even boredom) emotions. Making negative judgments about ourselves after- the -fact, can lead to additional overeating.

Not eating often enough during the day? Are we not eating breakfast, lunch and/or not eating any snacks during the day only to attack the refrigerator the moment we walk in the door in the evening?

Eating the wrong foods all day? Are we eating mostly simple carbohydrates? Examples: donut for breakfast, (even muffins can qualify), candy, pretzels, and other tasty non- nutrient snacks throughout the day. I've visited many an office with such goodies hanging out by the barrelful (okay, I'm exaggerating).

Always on a diet? Are we always on a diet, especially those restrictive diets which set many of us up for overeating in-between diet days, or overeating between the diets themselves. Are we on a diet which restricts one particular food group (we all know about our no starch diets!)? This may set us up to gorge later on a forbidden food.

Eating most of our meals out? Even dieticians were found to underestimate their calories from restaurant food.

Mindless eating? This means paying little attention to our food. Hence, we may not realize how much we have eaten until we actually feel full. This can also mean putting a priority on a less important variable such as convenience rather than our weight and health. It can also be caused by lack of planning (Mindless eating is a whole tip by itself!).

Rewarding and/or nurturing ourselves with food? Most of us celebrate a special occasion with food, but the question is how much and how often? Have we tried non-food rewards?

Overeating because of pure habit? Large portions and the wrong foods can become a habit.

Not taking the time to make special requests when ordering in a restaurant? Hidden calories and hidden fats add up to pounds on the body! How often do we ask for an appetizer portion, or ask for the sauce on the side especially during a busy week of eating out, or during holiday season?

Many of us may recognize ourselves in the above list. The question we can ask ourselves is, how often do we overeat, why and how do we feel about it? Lastly, we can evaluate the effect it has on us, which we live with daily and long term, so we can begin to make small changes.

I love food, and I think most of us do, so here's to less overeating!

Use the tool below to search in this site:

Recommend this site to a friend